Chicago Couples Counseling

Why Couples Counseling?

No one can push your buttons like your family or partner, and there’s no way to spend your life with someone without some arguments or hurt feelings.

Sometimes, though, it feels like too much. Couples can reach a point where they don’t feel connected to each other anymore, or get into arguments they can’t resolve. Addiction, infidelity, depression, anxiety, trauma, loss, and major life stressors can put strain on the relationships we want to treasure. It’s excruciating to feel alone in your relationship. Some partners arrive at Satya’s Chicago office not knowing if they want to continue the relationship at all.

You should not be in it alone — in fact, you can’t be! When your relationship is stuck in one or more unhealthy cycles, you two need to team up against the cycle. Some couples can do it intuitively; others need support to learn how. Many couples will wait up to six years from the time they first thought something was wrong before they seek help!

Our Chicago couples counseling practice helps partners get unstuck and move out of the cycle they are currently in.

Techniques We Use in Couples Counseling

In couples counseling, you’ll learn more effective ways to talk and listen to your partner, so you can both get your needs met. Adults learn by doing, so the bulk of our couples work will be you talking to each other. How awful would it be to sit and listen to your partner telling a therapist what they dislike about your behavior for an hour? We are not part of your relationship, so after we give you some education about how to express your feelings and needs productively, we turn the reins over to you and coach from the sidelines. Then we will help you learn how to create solutions and compromises.

For our Chicago couples counseling work, our most visible approach is the Gottman Method. Drs. John and Julie Gottman have been studying couples since the 1970s. They discovered what successful couples do and what unsuccessful couples do. Then they have devoted the past 20 years to training therapists about how to teach struggling couples the successful strategies. You can learn a little more about their research here.

We also integrate Emotion-Focused Therapy, or EFT. Couples who are emotionally connected can solve their own problems more effectively than couples who know everything in the world about communication! The undercurrent of our approach is ACT, or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, another evidence-based approach for creating change.